1. Tangled

I usually never go see movies in theatres, but various circumstances came together to lead me to see Tangled, which Wikipedia says is the 50th Disney Animated Classic. Is it really? Somehow I thought that there would be more, considering they'd gone as far (low?) as to create movies like Lion King 1 1/2. Come on now.

Ever since I discovered the beauty of Studio Ghibli, I've been unable to take Disney seriously, but Tangled was cute, old-school, and generally enjoyable. I was a little wary when the movie began with a voiceover by Flynn Rider talking directly to the audience, but thankfully that was short. I'd forgotten what the real story of Rapunzel was about, so I did spend a small part of my concentration wondering what creative licenses Disney had taken, but the story flowed well and most of the characters were rather endearing. I'm sort of over the whole animal-sidekick(s)-as-comic-relief thing, even though I actually did like Pascal and Maximus, even though the former had no business being named after a mathematician and the latter looked like a cow that acted like a dog.

For some reason I'd decided somewhere along the line that Mandy Moore was an overhyped cute face, but she can actually sing. Oops.

Lady Gothel is pure evil. Damn, she is good.

So there is, of course, a scene in which Flynn Rider ridiculously tells Rapunzel that she is his "new dream," because there is no reason a law-breaking playboy shouldn't fall in love with a sheltered 18-year-old in a span of two days. Even though it's a Disney movie, and therefore they obviously have to get married and live happily ever after, I was seized by a very strong desire to yell out that it was probably all a lie. I don't yell in movie theatres, though, or many public places, and I didn't want to dash the hopes and dreams of all of the 8-year-olds in the audience besides. Sigh.